ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:95081005.POL
DATE:08/10/95
TITLE:IRAQI BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS DATA INCOMPLETE, EKEUS TELLS U.N.
TEXT:
(Says there is no proof Iraq destroyed the weapons) (970)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Iraq's recent declaration to the United Nations on
its biological weapons program is incomplete and contradictory, the
head of the U.N. Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi
weapons (UNSCOM) told the U.N. Security Council August 10.
Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, UNSCOM chairman, said that the information he
was given during his visit to Baghdad earlier this month has
"shortcomings, especially on the production side" with about five tons
of complex growth medium for producing the biological warfare agents
not accounted for.
At a news conference after meeting with the council, Ekeus said that
there are other contradictions and doubts about the production numbers
provided by Iraq that cause UNSCOM to question whether Iraq may have
hidden other production lines or production sites.
In July 1995 after four years of denying that such a program existed,
Iraq admitted for the first time that it had an offensive biological
weapons program with research beginning in late 1985 at the Muthanna
site (where it also produced chemical weapons) and then transferred to
Salman Pak in early 1986. Iraq admitted it produced biological warfare
agents Clostridium botulinum and Bacillus anthracis at a site in al
Hakam in 1989 and 1990 and stored them there in concentrated form
until they were destroyed in October 1990 in anticipation of
hostilities after its invasion of Kuwait. It promised UNSCOM a
complete, full, and final accounting of its biological weapons program
by the end of July.
Ekeus said that while UNSCOM welcomed the declarations presented
during his visit August 4 to 6, "according to (resolution) 687, Iraq
was obliged to make that declaration immediately -- in April 1991, so
it is an overdue declaration."
According to the new information Iraq provided to UNSCOM, the
biological warfare agents it produced at al Hakam in May 1989 used the
growth medium in a large scale, producing in an 18-month period
500,000 liters of botulinum and 50,000 liters of anthracis.
However, Ekeus said, "Iraq has not provided us with supporting
evidence" of the destruction of the biological warfare agents that it
has said took place in September and October of 1991. "We don't have
any proof Iraq destroyed any biological weapons," he said.
Among other things, UNSCOM wants to see the written orders from top
officials to destroy the warfare agents and the documentation on the
problems, methods, and the sequence in which they were destroyed,
Ekeus said.
The ambassador added that Iraq's claims that it destroyed the
biological weapons in anticipation of the Persian Gulf war were "in
contradiction" to its decision at the same time to expand its chemical
weapons program and to prepare missile warheads for chemical use in
any battle over Kuwait.
Another concern, Ekeus said, "is that Iraq has not admitted
weaponization in the sense of munitions production. We have
requested...in detail the Iraqis' explanation" of their thinking on
how these warfare agents were to be delivered.
"This credibility problem can only be solved through further
verification," he said.
Ekeus also reported new political problems with Baghdad that threaten
another conflict with the Security Council and undermine any chance
that the council's mandatory oil embargo will be lifted in the near
future.
"The Iraqi side expressed concern that all banned weapons had been
destroyed and it was time now for the Security Council and UNSCOM to
believe that enough was enough and it was time to immediately and
fully and unconditionally implement paragraph 22 (of resolution 688 on
lifting the oil embargo) by the end of August or September," Ekeus
said.
The next council review of sanctions, which is conducted every 60
days, is set for early September. It appears highly unlikely that
UNSCOM's questions could be answered in time for it to provide the
council with assurance that Iraq has fully complied with the weapons
destruction demands, thereby moving the council closer to lifting the
embargo.
"It is very difficult to verify the information provided on August 4
in such a short time, especially in light of Iraq's denial until July
1 of existence of the program," Ekeus said. "It has created a
credibility problem and Iraq must understand the need for further
verification."
"It will take a long time if Iraq cannot provide us with that
information. If Iraq is positive and helpful, it will be quick," he
said.
Speaking with journalists after the council meeting, U.S. Ambassador
Madeleine Albright said, "Iraq is, all of a sudden, acting as if it's
in charge of the schedule of the Security Council and threatening that
they will no longer cooperate with the Security Council's resolutions
as well as their obligations to abide by them."
"It is not up to Iraq to threaten us with non-cooperation. It is the
Security Council that passes the resolutions and makes the rules. The
agenda and timetable is determined by the members of the Security
Council not Iraq," the ambassador said.
Ekeus said that on his next visit to Baghdad he was scheduled to meet
with Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamel Hassan, a son-in-law of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein and the head of Iraq's chemical, biological
and nuclear weapons programs, who defected to Jordan August 10.
Ekeus said he is still willing to meet with Hussein Kamel at any time.
"He has extremely important information," the UNSCOM chairman said.
"He was mastermind of their missile program that was a remarkable
success technologically...then in charge of chemical and biological
weapons research programs and commander and instructor for those
starting the programs...and in late 1988 he had full responsibility
for nuclear weapons. He is a key person."
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